Top 10: Register your wedding with World Vision's Gift Catalog

Wedding season starts next month! Are you getting married, but feel like you already have everything you need to start a home together? Use the day that will change your lives forever to help change lives all around the world!

With World Vision's My Gift Catalog application, you can create your own personalized fundraising webpage where others are invited to donate meaningful gifts. Here are our top 10 Gift Catalog recommendations for your wedding registry.

In countries like Thailand, Lesotho, and Zambia, families affected by poverty who depend on farming often struggle to raise enough food for their children. The seeds they use may be of poor quality -- or the family may not be able to afford seeds at all.

Your gift will offer two families a life-changing solution: fast-growing hybrid or drought-resistant seeds for a bounty of nutritious crops such as maize, rice, cassava, carrots, cabbage, green beans, peas, and onions. Surplus crops can be sold to supplement family income!

Children around the world love soccer more than any other sport. Yet many children in poverty have never played with a real toy -- let alone an actual soccer ball. That’s because when basics like food and medical care are scarce, there’s no money left over for simple pleasures. Instead, these children kick around plastic bags and old clothes tied with strings or old cords.

Give six soccer balls today, and give children a chance to set their spirits free.

Apple trees, orange trees, mango trees, and other healthy fruit trees provide the vitamins and nutrients growing kids need. A fruit tree orchard can produce enough fruit for vital income in just two to three years. Tree seedlings from the fully-grown fruit trees can then be used to help another family lift themselves out of poverty.

Besides continually multiplying, your green gift is also good for the environment. Planting fruit trees prevents deforestation -- a major cause of soil erosion that leads to poor farmland and devastating floods.

Goats nourish hungry children and families with healthy milk, cheese, and yogurt. Goat milk is easier to digest than cow’s milk, and it's an excellent source of calcium, protein, and other essential nutrients that growing children need.

Meanwhile, chickens provide fresh eggs that are rich in protein and nutrients, and extra eggs and chicks can be sold to pay for basics. Chickens will naturally multiply to impact generations of children. Each family that receives chickens is asked to give back hatched chicks to help another family in need. Chicks require little money, space, or food to thrive and grow -- making them an ideal business venture for a single mom or vulnerable family.

As you prepare to make your marriage vows before God, share the story of Jesus and the glory of God's work. When local communities request Bibles, your gift means so much more for children eager to have a Bible in their own language.

A sewing machine helps lift a woman out of poverty and creates new jobs in her community. To a woman or girl affected by poverty in a country like Zambia, Ghana, or Ecuador, the sewing machine you provide can be a doorway to a better life. You'll show a single mother, orphaned teen, or HIV-positive widow how she can make a decent living as a seamstress to support herself and her family.

Give a goat, a cow, and a sheep -- the “big three” milk producers -- and you can change the lives of three families! The increased protein in their diets will support children’s health. And families will be able to improve their living conditions by selling the animals’ offspring, as well as surplus dairy products like milk, cheese, and yogurt.

The world’s deadliest creature, the mosquito, kills nearly 655,000 people every year. While preventing malaria is inexpensive by U.S. standards, it’s out of reach for poor African families who must watch helplessly as their children suffer and die. Your gift will provide one of the best ways to protect children from malaria -- insecticide-treated bed nets -- as well as critical education for prevention and control.

In many parts of the developing world, access to clean water makes a crucial difference in helping communities escape poverty. In countries like Malawi, a well just 60 feet deep can bring new health and life to a community of 150 people. The well your gift provides will be capable of supplying more than 600 gallons of safe water a day for drinking, bathing, irrigating crops, and watering livestock.

Looking for additional ideas? Browse World Vision's Gift Catalog for a complete set of hundreds of gift options that friends and family can donate to provide help and hope to children, families, and entire communities in need!

Comments

All of these are critical needs. I recently spent two months in the Philippines where Dengue Fever is rampant. I thought everyone had a mosquito net until I started visiting the poorer communities. No one had a net over their bed. I asked them if they were concerned. "Of course we are," was the response. "But what do we do? If we buy a net, then we won't eat for several days." The situation is serious. As I travel throughout the Philippines to support the educational needs of impoverished children, the needs I encounter are extensive. Everyone needs to do their part to help. I would love to talk other concerned individuals about what we can do to support these needs. Just contact me http://www.EducateBohol.org .